A Kiss to Make it Better
by Camsjr
Summary: Casey's in a slump after her father passes away from cancer. Can the almighty Derek Venturi help get her out of it. DASEY of course
1. Cinderella

Hockey isn't just about being able to take a hit and aim well, it's also ability swiftness, agility, but it doesn't compare to what is in front of my eyes right now. I watch as she dances to the song Cinderella _She spins and she sways to what ever song plays without a care in the world and I'm sitting here wearing the weight of the world on my shoulders_. It's slower than her normal routines, but amazing to watch still. The way her body contorts and how she makes it look oh so effortless. There's something different about tonight though, I'd be fooling myself if I said that I don't see the tears in her eyes. I may not be the brightest lightbulb out there, but I know why she chose to play this song tonight.

I sigh and push myself off of the wall and into the room silently. She's just standing there for a moment so I take the opportunity to wrap my arms around her waist and slowly turn her around. I look into her bright blue eyes that are rimmed in red and pull her closer to me. "Dance with me" I whisper and slowly we start to dance to the song.

_So I'll dance with my Cinderella while she is here in my arms cause I know something the prince never knew. Oh I'll dance with my Cinderella, I don't want to miss even one song cause all too soon, the clock will strike midnight and she'll be gone._

We danced silently, my arm around her waist and her head buried in my chest. All to soon the song ended, I was the first to pull away and wiped a falling tear off of her cheek. "Smile Princess, you know I don't do tears" I said, smirking half-heartedly.

"And yet you're always here when I'm crying," she countered. "Thank you," she whispered before I could think of a rebuttal.

I just nodded and went to leave. "Der, wait!" she called, catching my hand. She moved closer and looked down at her feet "Cinderella may not have a dad anymore, but she ended up with one hell of a prince, didn't she?" she asked me softly, looking into my eyes.

I smiled and nodded "Yeah, space-case, she did, eventually." I knew the real question she was asking, but I couldn't. I can't be her prince, not yet at least. A prince is the person to sweep the princess off of her feet and always be there to make her happy and that just wasn't me. I wasn't romantic, hell, I had to get Edwin to look up what a corsage was for prom. I half hugged her before retreating back to my room. Casey had just lost her father, I didn't want there to be a correlation between our relationship and death, that just wasn't a good idea.

~Two Weeks Later~

"C'mon," I said as I opened the blinds and let some fresh summer air in. I looked down at the bulge in the blankets and couldn't help but jump on top of them. I felt around for a bit before reaching my destination and started tickling Casey through the blankets.

"De-rek! Stop! I can't. Breathe!"

"Oh really? Zombies needed to breathe? Didn't know that" I countered, sarcasm evident. I pulled the blankets off of her face and smiled down at her messy hair and pouty face.

"What do you want Derek, I'm sleeping" she said, trying to glare, but her heart wasn't into it.

"It's after ten am, you're wide awake, don't give me that crap. Come on, we're going out. I know you're upset, you have every right to be, but we saw it coming, you said goodbye, he's better now. Just because he's dead doesn't mean you should be as well" I said and realized right after I said that that I shouldn't have. "Case, I'm sorry, I... I didn't mean to sound that dumb. I just... trust me?" I asked and sighed when she just rolled onto her side so her back was towards me.

"Casey, please. You know I hate that word, but please. Let me take you out for today and you can hate me all you want tomorrow. It's summer break, one day out in the sun won't- harm you" I said and gently rubbed her back for a bit before she sighed and got up.

"I need to shower and get dressed first. You better have a freaking amazing day planned, because my bed was pretty darn comfy," and with that she grabbed some clothes and went to the bathroom to shower.

**A/N:  
**Okay, so I was originally going to do something totally different with regards to Casey's dancing, but then Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman came on and I thought that I should start this off sad and then have it get happier.


	2. Out For the Day

**P.s. For previous, present, and future chapters. I don't own Life With Derek, just the laptop I use to type this up with. Please no suing =)**

"Der-ek!" she groaned, splitting my name in half again, which just made me smirk more.

"Hey, I told you not to wear those shoes, Princess" I said shrugging and didn't bother trying to help her get the mud off of her new Uggs.

"For your information, you didn't say not to, you said, and I quote 'Jeeze Space- Case, did you get dressed in the dark? And what are those mammoths on your feet."

I chuckled and kept walking, but went slower so she didn't have to actually run to catch up to me. "Besides, how was I supposed to know that your 'day of fun' meant taking me to _a petting zoo_, I mean, seriously. We're the only people here over the age of nine!"

"No, there are parents here too," I countered with a smirk that was answered with another screeching of my name. "C'mon Princess, do you really think I brought you here to pet the llamas?" I asked rolling my eyes.

"Well, why else would you bring me here?" she wondered when she finally caught up. A lamb came over and Baaahed at her leg. Casey couldn't help herself and cooed at the little fellah, bending down to pet the lamb's head "Awe, he's so cute, Der, look at this lil' puff ball!"

I laughed at how quickly her mood changed at the appearance of a baby sheep. "C'mon Spacey, we're going to be late, you can snuggle with your new boyfriend later" I teased and watched her try to get up.

The little lamb followed us until we got to this one building "C'mon Bo Peep, let's go," my patience for this girl and sheep was waning quickly as I walked in and waited for her by the receptionist desk after I paid for our tickets.

"Where are we?" she asked, crossing her arms and trying to play it off like she's annoyed but I could tell she was just cold from the air conditioning.

"The museum, I figured I got the dirt and the annoyed look on your face while with the animals- plus they smell better than you- and you got fuzzy things to pet and something educational since you're such a keener" I explained and waited as the woman stamped our hands "We have to be at the I-Max by 2 pm though, that's when the movie in there starts."

"This isn't totally awful" Casey said to me over her shoulder as a way of thanks and I responded with just a shrug.

I followed her through the museum that had pictures of how the petting zoo and surrounding area was built. There were pictures and stories of all of the animals on the site.

"So you're boyfriend is named Arniano" I said "hm, seems fitting since it does mean lamb or little one and he's the runt of the group" I thought aloud and bit the inside of my cheek when Casey looked over with a shocked expression.

"What, am I not allowed to know Latin?" I asked raising an eyebrow and moved on to the next picture and hopefully a different topic.

**~Casey~**

I watched Derek look at the pictures, feigning apathy, but I could tell he was secretly enjoying learning about the area. The fact that not only did he know that Arniano was a boy's name in latin, but also the reason why the little guy back in the enclosure was named that just made me even more curious about the boy- man I live with. It was odd, he always tries to seem like he doesn't care, but when he's talking about something he does take interest in, he's like a five year old that doesn't have an off switch.

I eventually started to walk with him again, every now and then each of us discussing a photograph or one of the animals we had just seen a moment ago. I talked about the history and the culture while he discussed the lighting and contrast in the photographs. Eventually it was time to go to the IMAX theater "What video are we seeing anyway?" I wondered as we stood in line to hand our tickets and get our seats.

"I don't know, something about a llama or something. It has fur and probably sad and hopeful music so I'll be sleeping" he mumbled as he handed our tickets to the man. He walked to the back of the bowl shaped theater and I grinned when I realized it was the type where the movie consumed the room so you felt like you were truly apart of the film. I sat down next to him and wrapped my arms around myself since it was even colder in here than in the rest of the museum.

"Dear God, it feels like I'm part of an earth quake, how am I supposed to enjoy my nap with you shaking so much. Take this," he said and put his leather jacket on my lap. I looked at him in awe as the realization that he _gave me his jacket_ finally sunk in. I carefully pulled it on and resisted the grin that was forcing its way onto my face. The jacket was heavy, but incredibly warm and smelt just like Derek did. It almost felt as if Derek had his arms around me. I chastised myself for acting so girly, it was just him trying to be nice- I'll figure out why that is later- and here I am acting like an idiot because of a little crush I have. Besides, it's not like he could ever feel the same way about me and even if he did, we couldn't do anything, we're somewhat siblings and that's just wrong... isn't it?

"Space Case are you even paying attention?" Derek asked, leaning close to whisper in my ear. "You're somewhere else, I can tell. Watch the movie, you can overanalyze life later"


	3. How Many Will it Take?

LWD not mine = No sue me for creativity :)

Casey seemed spaced out throughout the movie- not that I noticed- and then she was quiet when we walked out back to the petting zoo- not that I minded. Hell she was even frowning slightly when Arniano came up and _Baaahheeed_ at her- not that I cared. "C'mon Princess, I'm hungry" I mumbled, not even going to fight about the fact that she was still wearing my jacket, not that I liked how it looked on her or anything. I opened the car door for her before getting in "Where to?" I asked as I put the Prince into reverse and started to leave the petting zoo/ museum. I rolled my eyes as she muttered the vague "wherever" answer I knew I was bound to get. "Fine, but in the wise words of Rush, if you choose not to decide you still have made a choice" I murmured as I started to drive. Hell, I even put on her pop crap she claimed to be music, but she was back in her funk from the past two weeks. I drove to this homey burger joint we almost always went to and held the door open for her. I waved to Claire, the waitress who knew us well, and she nodded, letting us go to our usual booth in the way back corner.

"Now, as much as I know i'm going to regret it in a minute, could you at least try and say one thing? You know I don't do silence just as much as I don't do tears, Princess." I didn't want to sound rude or commanding, but this silence was making me want to rip my hair out.

"I just have nothing to say," she explained while pretending to be enthralled with the menu even though both of us had it memorized by now.

"That's bullshit and you know it Case,"

"You know how I don't like that kind of language Derek." She sounded tired and that's when I looked at her, really honestly looked at her. Something was wrong, more so than just her dad passing away. Yeah, I know she's sad and all, but now she didn't even look hurt, she just looked tired and guarded. Without really thinking I moved to her side of the booth and sat down next to her, wrapping my own arm around her waist.

"Case, look at me, I've lived with you for how many years now and I've pulled so many pranks on you, you don't think I don't know how you work by now? Talk to me"

"I can't Derek, not about this at least" she said, and there it was again, that tiredness in her voice I've only heard a few times.

Claire came over with our drinks and asked if we wanted the usual. Casey said yes while I said no and they both looked at me like I was a headless chicken still running around the damn barn. "No usual today, Claire. We're going to need the biggest brownie sundae you got. Two spoons and a lot of napkins" I said with my signature smirk. Once Claire left I turned to see Casey giving me a weird look.

"If you can't talk about it, I figure the next best thing is to butter you up with some vanilla ice cream and a hot fudge brownie" I explained while adding the fact that us fighting over the whipped cream and all contents of that sundae was bound to put us both in a better mood. People ask how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop, but with Casey and I, it's how many fake fights does it take to get to the real problem- we have yet to answer that one, but it sure as hell is more than three.

**A/N sorry it's short, but I don't know, I just like the idea of it looking like their on a date and I wanted to add Derek being nice in his own way and I know it's OCC for him with all the f-f-f-eelings, but that's this story, sorry. More to come shortly. My question: How would these two do at a bowling alley alone? WOuld it just be the bowling bowls being thrown or more than just pins being knocked down? Only time will tell ;)**


	4. Just some friendly competition

**LWD isn't mine sadly enough :(**

Thankfully Case and I were so well-known at that restaurant because if not, our ice cream fight would have been enough to get us kicked out for life. I gave our waitress an extra tip just for the clean up before taking Casey back to the car. She seemed a little bit better, but she still had that tiredness to her. "C'mon," I said, getting into the car.

It wasn't until we were three blocks past the apartment that Casey asked where we were going "You're obviously so tense that the only thing to get you out of this funk is for you to throw stuff or get you in bed with a random guy and since you're too ugly for any guy to want to kiss you let alone do anything else, we have to go for the throwing alternative. We're going bowling"

"Bowling, Der? Really? We all know how that ended last time, I suck at bowling!" She whined which just made me grin even more.

"I know, but so do I, besides, I'm not taking you here without wanting to get something out of it. I say we make a bet; if I win..." I stopped, wanting to say 'you have to tell me what's really bothering you' but I knew that wouldn't work. Casey is complex in many ways, her brain just doesn't work like normal people's brains do. I grinned, coming up with a perfect bet "If I win, you have to clean my room and do my laundry for a month" it's always fun getting people to do your chores for you, especially now that I don't have Ed here to do it for me. Besides, her having to go through my "eye sore" of a room and having to touch my sweaty and man odored hockey gear will get her into another fight pretty quickly.

"What happens if I win though?" she countered.

"That's not going to happen, Princess" I rebutted.

"It could! If I win... I get your leather jacket for a week"

I glared at her for a moment, but I'm Derek Venturi, I never back out of a bet "Deal" I said and we shook on it before I went up. the first ball I threw was a strike.

"Lucky shot," She murmured as she grabbed for her pink bowling ball. I tried not to stare too badly as she bent to roll the ball down the alley, my eyes not watching the ball, but rather my step-sister's perfectly toned ass in those black stretchy yoga pants. _Dear Lord, I gotta stop thinking of her like that. she's my sister for christ's sake! well, **step-**sister, but still... it's gotta be so wrong on so many levels. _

"You okay D?" she asked, walking back from hitting only six pins.

"Yeah, just trying to figure out how you got so many pins on such an awful throw" I countered with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes and went back to the approach, this time the ball went right down the center, giving her a spare.

Casey's POV:

I walked out of the bowling alley, hands in Derek's leather jacket, somehow i had beaten the great Derek almighty by two pins.

"Really Case, what's wrong?" he asked as we got into the car.

"Nothing, why do you think something's wrong?" I asked, looking over at him.

"You just won my most prized possession and you're not rubbing it in my face or mocking me or anything"

I looked at him, really look at him- he seemed... concerned. _Odd._ "Nothing's wrong Derek, I'm just tired, can we go home now?" I asked, his stare making me feel really uncomfortable. I looked out the window and inhaled deeply, trying to calm down from the odd feelings I got when he looked at me like that. The inhaling deeply thing didn't work out all too well considering I was partially hiding my face in his jacket and I breathed in Derek, his musty smell that was so... _him_. I couldn't help but smile a little and glance over at him.

Derek raised an eyebrow at me before shaking his head and starting the car. The ride back consisted of my radio station, but I wasn't in the mood to sing along for once. I kept glancing over at Derek, how he held the steering wheel. I know I yell at him about his driving, but if you just look at him, not at the stupid stunts he pulls, you could see that he loves driving. He looks more relaxed when driving, about as relaxed as he is when playing guitar.

I watched him out of the corner of my eye until we made it to the apartment we share. I hastily retreated to my room and locked the door, flopping down onto my bed while hugging his jacket to me. The reason I've been weird isn't because of my dad's passing or the fact I have nothing to study because it's summer, it's because of Derek. It's _always_ because of Derek! Why does he have to be so nice, yes, he is nice. No matter how much he doesn't want to admit it to anyone, Derek Venturi is a softy. It's just odd with him being nice to me, the past few days, it felt like we were going on dates and I know that's not how he meant it, but what if that's what I wanted? But seriously, who wants to date their step-brother? I must seriously be crazy.


	5. No Sugar Added

Disclaimer: I don't own life With Derek (If I did, they would be married by now)

By the way, I am SO sorry it took so long for me to post this, I had a family emergency and then my laptop broke

CASEY'S POV:

I set my alarm for seven am the next morning, I may not know why Derek's been so nice to me lately, but I do know that he deserves a thank you and since our actions speak louder than our words I decided to thank him in his favorite way: food. I fell asleep with Derek's jacket carefully folded next to me on my pillow, you know, just in case he tries to come in to steal it at some point in the night.

My alarm went off at seven am, I wouldn't have enough time to shower until after Derek left for his eight am hockey practice, but knowing Derek, I'd probably get syrup or something on me during breakfast anyway. I brushed my hair and teeth and went into the kitchen to start on the chocolate chip pancakes and coffee. Once both were made I snuck into Derek's room and jumped on his bed "Der-ek! C'mon, time to get up!" I said, purposely being overly energetic just to annoy him. Derek groaned and rolled onto his side, pulling one of his pillows over his head

"Case. It is 7:20, if you were to press that little button over there you would see that I still have twenty minutes of bed left. Go awaaaay" he mumbled, trying to burrow into his bed more when I started jumping a bit on it.

"okay, fine, I guess I can eat all of those chocolate chip pancakes by myself" I said before leaving the room. Chuckling as I heard Derek jump out of bed and following after me.

"If there's no pancakes I'll be eating you for breakfast" he muttered before walking faster to get to the kitchen first.

I walked in to find him not eating the pancakes but staring at the mug of coffee I set down by his plate "What's wrong? Did I burn the coffee?" i wondered.

DEREK POV:

I shook my head and took another sip of the coffee "It has cream, but no sugar?" I said, genuinely confused.

She bit her lip and nodded "I thought that's how you liked it. I can put some sugar in it or make you another cup if you want" she said, wringing her hands.

I shook my head no, still too confused about the coffee to think about how cute she seemed when she bit her lip. "No, it's fine. Perfect actually. You put just the right amount of cream in it and sugar makes it too sweet, but how did you know I like it this way?"

"Well, you drink it this way in the morning, add two packets of sugar if it's iced coffee, and you drink it black when you're hung over" She said with a shrug, like it was no big deal that she knew my favorite breakfast meal and all the different ways I drink my coffee.

I just stared at her for a minute. Eventually she turned around, a faint redness to her cheeks. "Your pancakes are getting cold" she muttered, putting the maple syrup on the table and sitting down across from me. I continued to just stare at her, especially considering she had a bowl of oatmeal in front of her.

"Did you seriously just make pancakes just for me?" I asked, my eyebrows knitting together in confusion, but smiled slightly when she blushed.

"Well, you did a lot for me this week, besides, I need more sustenance and less sugar" she explained with a shrug.

I just shook my head and bit into the heaven that she had concocted. "Dear God, this is delicious. Don't get married" I muttered, only half- thinking.

"And why can't I get married?" Casey asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Because I'm going to need you to make these for me every weekend of my life. You can be my cook, without the getting paid part" I said smirking.

"Oh, cause every woman is meant to sit at home and work in the kitchen while watching the kids. You're such a guy"

"Who said we're having kids? I said don't ever get married, therefore, you'll never have kids" I said, trying to get off the subject of women and housework.

"I never said that we were!" she corrected quickly, her blush coming back a bit. "And who's to say I will only have kids after getting married? People do it all the time"

"Because that's not you Spacey. You want the house with a white picket fence in cookie cutter, USA. Your husband will probably be a lawyer so that he can be smart and have deep discussions with you while also loving to debate with you. You'll have three kids and be the typical soccer mom when you're done after a hard day of being a fancy book editor" I muttered, looking at her seriously. I looked at the time, because I don't like when Casey has that expression on her face. The "you're right, but wrong/ how did you know" face on. "It's late, I gotta head to practice" I muttered and shoved the last pancake in my mouth before putting my dishes in the sink.

I got dressed quickly and started to head out, but stopped to mess up Casey's hair on the way out and smiled as "Der-ek!" followed me into the hallway.


	6. the pre-med Man and the jealous step-sis

Disclaimer: I don't own life with derek :(

CASEY'S POV:

I was online looking up my course textbooks when Derek entered the apartment. He threw down his bags and rolled his eyes at me. "I get it, you beat me, but do you seriously have to wear that in front of me, it's mean. Do you know how cold an ice rink is without gear or a jacket on?"

I smirked "Well, maybe next time you should remember that The Almighty Venturi does lose every now and then" I countered, fixing his jacket since it tended to slide off my shoulders sometimes. To be perfectly honest, I don't know why I'm even wearing his jacket, I had to turn the AC on just so I wouldn't be too hot in it.

"Whatever, just don't wear that on your date tonight, people might get confused with who you're dating" he said as he brought his gear bag into his room. He came out a few minutes later in just a pair of jeans and socks. I looked up and stared at his bare chest for a bit, I mean, how does a man who eats three burgers a day have such a nice set of muscles on him. He doesn't have a six pack, but they look weird anyway, his arms had a few veins threatening to pop out, a sign that he had a good amount of muscle mass there. I shook my head a bit, I couldn't be checking out my step-brother, nope, not at all. "Space, did you hear anything I just said?" he asked, his voice mocking me. I wondered how long I was ogling him for.

"Sorry, just trying to think, I don't remember saying yes to a date with anyone tonight" I explained while shutting my macbook pro down.

"That's because you didn't, I did" he reasoned and turned around to grab his phone off of the top of the tv "that's where that went" he muttered, putting it into his back pocket.

"Excuse me, since when do you have a say in who I do and don't date? And did you even wear your gear today? Your back is a mess" I said, disgusted by all the bruises already forming on his usually pristine back.

"It's just a few bruises, coach got some new kid on the team, we had a scrimmage and the kid doesn't know how to stay out of the penalty box apparently." he said with a shrug that ended with a slight wince. I sighed and got up, going into the freezer to get the large ice pack for him. "And I figured you needed some time out with people" he added.

"People? I thought you said it was a date?" I said, motioning for him to lay down on the couch.

He followed my orders, laying down on his stomach and hissed as the cold pack touched his sensitive skin "It is a date, but it's a double date. Carly, she works at the snack stand at the ice rink, her and her cousin are looking for something to do tonight, I mentioned that you haven't been out in a while and it was done. We're seeing Monster's University after dinner. Dinner's casual, just a pizza place, be ready by six"

"Oh I see, so this is just about you getting another bimbo to come back to our apartment" I snarled, getting up off the edge of the couch. "Well, I'm not going, I have too much stuff to do here anyway"

"Like what? Besides being a drama queen?" he asked. "Come on, you'd like this guy, he's pre-med. His name's Ricky and he's only in town for a little while so it doesn't even matter much.

I sighed, at least it wasn't another dumb college guy that's only going to talk about parties and order beer. "Just this once, after this, no more being matchmaker. And clean up, you smell awful" I muttered before going into my room.

I was dreading this double date, not because Derek planned it or chose my guy or anything, but because I didn't want to be there watching him swap spit with another bimbo that he'll be done with by the end of the month anyway.

Sorry this is a really short chapter with no Derek POV, but I promise the double date chapter will be worth the wait!


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